More landlords take renters with bad credit

Not long ago, anyone with less than stellar credit couldn’t get an apartment unless a parent or wealthy benefactor co-signed for them. Given what’s gone on over the last couple years, though, bad credit is becoming more normal. So much so, that the share of keyword searches conducted for “no credit check apartments” or “bad credit apartments” increased fourfold between January 2008 and January 2009, according to a report on renter behavior from Rent.com.

But just because people are looking, it doesn’t necessarily mean there are that many bad credit apartments available. Just for kicks, we looked on Craigslist, where there were a surprising number of bad credit apartments listed (somewhere between 50 and 70). One property manager in San Jose, for example, not only advertises “BAD CREDIT OK,” but he/she also promises a “MOVE-IN BONUS.” Similarly, the landlord of a three-bedroom house in Pittsburg says “Bad credit OK with good references.”